Ripley: Sommerso Show Only

April 8, 2024 10:11 AM - Season 1, Episode 3

When Dickie and his father start seeing through his ruse, Tom resorts to drastic methods.

For discussion of eps. 2 & 3. If possible, I will post every second episode. This is the problem with streaming; many are likely done the series already!

Vulture recaps of episodes two and three.

posted by sylvanshine (7 comments total)

I'm loving this show so far. Beautifully filmed and with such a strong central performance. I can't think of another series of comparable length where the protagonist is required to keep us so hypnotised with so few lines of dialogue.

I like the fact that they made killing Dickie and sinking the boat a job that required lots of physical exertion from Ripley. Just as the clocks are always there to make him wonder if his time is running out, I think the constant steps he has to climb symbolise that the life he's chosen demands not just nerve but a good deal of work too.

I hope we can keep these particular episode posts a strictly "Show Only" affair. The last thing I want at this point is stray spoilers from people who've also read the books.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:56 PM on April 8 [3 favorites]

One technical issue with posting every other episode is that FanFare won't automatically generate the Next Episode/Previous Episode links. Maybe a post for each episode and make a post in the "off episodes" saying "Discussion in the Episode 3 thread"?

Really loving the show. One question I have is about the scene where the mobster approaches Tom in the piazza and Tom brings him to Dickie's. My theory is that Tom was trying to make himself seem less savvy than Dickie, so that Dickie wouldn't have his guard up about any shady business. My wife thinks it was for the housekeeper's benefit - she knows there was a mobster in the house, so if Dickie is found dead, she might direct the police that way. Kind of a moot point now, but still, curious about Tom's motivation there.

The close call with the boat owner talking to the police was so bold of Tom! I was surprised he didn't try to hide or get away from the whole situation.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:42 PM on April 9

(I've read the books, but it's been years.) This series is beautiful. It was striking to me how chancy Tom's life is. The New York bank is suspicious, the police want to find him, there's always a scare on the trains, Dickie and Marge barely tolerate him... He's always burning bridges, never on solid ground.

I can't remember whether Tom's story about his parents' fatal boating accident is in the books at all, but it fits beautifully with his dreams about water, and then his long ordeal in San Remo.

I liked how the lines were drawn between the two. Dickie switched from being charmed by the 'hurt' lady needing taxi fare, to icing out the mobster who picked Tom up at the cafe. I thought Tom truly didn't grasp that Dickie would object to the 'fun' and easy money? Dickie showing off his paintings, and Tom so obviously thinking what we're all thinking...

On which note, it's easy to object to Tom's morals, but the show does a good job putting the viewer on his side aesthetically and viscerally.
posted by mersen at 8:03 PM on April 9 [2 favorites]

Tom is a psychopath but also an empathetic one. Some of that is just Andrew Scott being Andrew Scott but as much as I object to what Tom does, I'm still on his side because I understand why he's doing it. He feels like he has no choice.

This show is so gorgeous I can't stand it. I think that both emphasizes and minimizes the darkness of the story. It's so interesting to me.
posted by edencosmic at 6:56 PM on April 12

The whole sequence with the boat was a masterpiece of film making: the shots from the black depths looking upwards, the motor refusing to start and the observation that a running motorboat will indeed continually circle back towards the point where its pilot falls overboard. Even Tom’s attempt to scuttle the craft looked like they had been created by filmmakers who had experimented first with fire then with rocks.

I had Dickie marked as doomed from the moment he bought the fridge, however.
posted by rongorongo at 2:20 PM on April 16

I love that after Ripley murders Dickie, he is ostensibly on a path to a higher-class life, and from that point until the end of the episode anything that upsets him or interferes with his plan is invariably a working-class person doing their job; the mundanity of being one of the "little people" he so desperately wants to escape constantly knocking on his door, spooking him.
posted by Shepherd at 5:49 PM on May 7

Tom is a psychopath but also an empathetic one.

This show is an awesome portrayal of a psychopath's cold empathy, flat affect and hidden anxiety. Tom is callous and exploitative and his semblance of humanity is only a mask. Not a likeable character in much regard except maybe his ruthless efficiency? You're not supposed to be on his side. Even if he's the protagonast he's the villain.
posted by tovarisch at 1:00 PM on May 12